A composite image forming apparatus includes two image forming units having different image forming methods. For example, the two image forming units may be an electrophotographic image forming unit and an inkjet image forming unit.
An electrophotographic image forming unit irradiates a photoconductor with light modulated to correspond to image information to form an electrostatic latent image on a surface of the photoconductor, supplies toner to the electrostatic latent image and develops the electrostatic latent image to form a visible toner image, and transfers and fixes the toner image onto a recoding medium, thereby printing an image on the recording medium.
An inkjet image forming unit ejects ink onto paper transferred in a sub-scanning direction by using an inkjet print head, thereby printing an image. An inkjet print head includes a plurality of nozzles configured to eject ink and an ejection means configured to provide an ink ejection pressure.
A composite image forming apparatus may selectively or simultaneously drive an electrophotographic image forming unit and an inkjet image forming unit depending on the type of image, printing speed, whether a copy is double-sided, and the like, thereby printing an image on paper.